Biden says Americans have 'right to protest but not the right to cause chaos' on college campuses after another night of mass arrests. Here are the latest updates.

President Biden on Thursday addressed the intensifying pro-Palestinian protests at American colleges, telling reporters that "dissent is essential for democracy" but that "dissent must never lead to disorder."

"There's the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos," Biden said of the protests, which have seen more than 2,000 arrests nationwide. His remarks at the White House were the first since April 22, when he made brief comments to reporters.

“In moments like this, there are always those who rush in to score political points. But this isn’t a moment for politics. It’s a moment for clarity. So let me be clear. Violent protest is not protected, peaceful protest is,” Biden said.

What’s the latest?

• More than 200 people were arrested [L.A. Times] after police cleared an encampment at UCLA early Thursday after two days of altercations that saw the university cancel classes Wednesday and clashes between protesters and counterprotesters [Associated Press].

• More than 90 protesters [The Dartmouth] were arrested at Dartmouth College Wednesday night and early Thursday morning after New Hampshire State Police were called to campus to dismantle the growing encampment.

• Early Thursday morning, 29 demonstrators were arrested [News 12 Long Island] at Stony Brook University in New York.

• Arrests were made at other colleges Wednesday night, including 12 people at the University of New Hampshire [WMUR] and 17 at the University of Texas at Dallas [Fox 4 Dallas].

• Late Tuesday, nearly 300 protesters [Bloomberg] at Columbia University and City University in New York City were arrested. Police remained on campus Wednesday at the Ivy League school.

• Protesters entered an undergraduate admissions building [Fox 5 Atlanta] at Emory University on Wednesday.

• New York police arrested protesters who occupied the lobby of a building at Fordham University [Daily News] on Wednesday. They also cleared away a tent encampment.

• Students at Portland State University [KOIN] continued to barricade themselves inside the school’s library, escalating a multiday standoff with officials, who canceled classes Wednesday.

• Universities like Brown [AFP] and Northwestern have diffused protests [Associated Press] after pledging to demonstrators this week to take up votes on whether to divest from companies doing business with Israel.

• In addition to the crackdowns, universities have also canceled commencements, moved to remote classes and restricted access to campuses.

What sparked the protests?

After decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians living in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas, Gaza’s militant government, launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed nearly 1,200 people. The incident was the largest single killing of Jews since the Holocaust, and hundreds of hostages were taken.

In response, Israel’s right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declared war on Hamas and launched an invasion that has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

The scale of Israel’s retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack has received international condemnation, including by President Biden, as indiscriminate and responsible for a heavy civilian death toll.

What do the protesters want?

While there is no single group organizing all of the protests across the U.S., one recurring demand that has emerged among demonstrators is for American universities to divest themselves from companies that have a financial stake in Israel’s government, or from companies that supply Israel with weapons or military technology.

At Columbia University, for example, protesters have often chanted the slogan “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”

In the 1980s, students protested at colleges across the country to pressure universities to divest themselves from companies that did business with South Africa’s apartheid government. That movement has been credited with the downfall of the regime.

What about free speech rights?

The arrests of protesters at U.S. college campuses can be controversial. After all, the First Amendment of the Constitution protects the right to free speech. The rub, however, comes when demonstrations disrupt the rights of others or put their safety at risk.

“I condemn the violence at UCLA last night,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement issued Wednesday. “The law is clear: The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus. Those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions — including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion.”

Ultimately, it may be up to the courts to decide whether colleges that have brought in police to arrest protesters have gone too far.

At Arizona State University, some students arrested over the weekend have filed a lawsuit against the school for allegedly infringing on their free speech rights.

Political fallout

With a significant portion of his political base upset over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Biden has walked a delicate line regarding the pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations.

On Wednesday, Biden was content to let his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, field questions about the recent arrests at American universities.

“Americans have the right to peacefully protest, as long as it’s within the law,” Jean-Pierre said. “Forcibly taking over a building is not peaceful. It’s just not.

“Students have the right to feel safe, they have the right to learn, they have the right to do this without disruption,” she added. “They have the right to attend their commencement without feeling unsafe.”

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump, who has also been critical of Netanyahu, openly mused about whether the protesters detained so far would be treated better than his own supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I wonder if what’s going to happen to them will be anything comparable to what happened to J6, because they’re doing a lot of destruction, a lot of damages, a lot of people getting hurt very badly,” he wrote in a post to his social media site, Truth Social. “I wonder if that’s going to be the same kind of treatment they gave J6. Let’s see how that all works out.”

Cover thumbnail photo: Ethan Swope/AP